Monday, February 5, 2018

Who Is Kristin Beck? Why We Should Care

Just last week, I watched a documentary
entitled “Lady Valor:The Kristin Beck Story,” released
in 2014,at our local theatre.The movie was preceded by Beck’s memoire Warrior Princess: A US. Navy Seal’s
Journey to Coming Out Transgender, co-written with psychologist Anne
Spechard, Ph.D. in 2013.

Apparently,
the movie was filmed a few months after Anderson Cooper’s AC360 piece on Beck
was aired.I missed that show as
well.

Kristin
Beck’s story is still timely.Starting out in life in 1966 as Christopher T. Beck in a Baptist family,
Christopher graduates from Virginia Military Institute in 1987.He spent twenty years as a member of
the elite Special Forces Navy SEALS on SEAL Team 1 as well as United States
Special Warfare Development Group (SEAL Team 6).Highly decorated with a Purple Heart and Bronze Medal with a
“V” for Valor, among other medals, he retired in 2011 with the rank of Senior
Chief and continued high-level clearance work for the U.S. government and the
Pentagon.

Beck
did thirteen deployments from 1991 and 2011 while he had a wife and two
children. While fighting for America, he drowned out the noise in his head
about his identity.In 2013,
Chris Beck came out as transgender on LINKEDIn and lives life as Kristin Beck.

Kristin
Beck tours the country giving speeches as a fighter for justice and equality in
the military. She is a fighter for transgender acceptance. “It shouldn’t take
courage to be yourself,” she confirms. This is her new mission that she states
is even harder than serving in the military.Beck points out that often transsexuals hide out in the military
as she did.

Beck
states in the movie that his recent fight for equality is “mentally more
rigorous” than serving in the military. She has received hate mail, even death
threats, and has lost close friends because of her decision to transition.This loss hurt her, but her goal is to
be Kristen Beck, and raise awareness so others can be themselves as well. She lost in Maryland’s primary
Democratic election to represent the 5th Congressional district in
2016.

Her
sister is interviewed in the movie as is her one brother who states that he
“never saw girly in him.” Yet at a young age, Christopher would feign illness
and stay home and put on his sister’s clothes that felt comfortable.At age five, he was steered away from
feminine toys. Her mother and two
other siblings would not be interviewed for the movie.“Our family is a work in progress,” she
says.

A
good marksman, Kristin was seen in the movie as an instructor wearing a skirt,
same attire for her VMI reunion.She doesn’t want to look like Barbie, and says you don’t need surgeries
to make you whole.

She
is particularly concerned with the transgender teen community that has a high
suicide rate and Trump’s temporary
military ban of transsexuals in the military.“There are some very qualified transsexuals in the military
who can’t be replaced and their contracts shouldn’t be broken.”Just as I fought for “liberty, justice,
and the pursuit of happiness,” I’m now fighting for my pursuit of happiness, to
be a full human being as well as for the transgender community.”

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About Me

I am an award-winning freelance magazine writer. I have penned articles about health and childcare for Adoptive Families, American Baby, as well as straight parenting of gay and lesbian children for such on-line sites as Radical Parenting, Gay News Agenda and GayNewsPulse.com.

As the mother of a gay son, I focus on writing about issues that straight parents face raising gay and lesbian kids. Based on my own experiences and current research, I give advice to straight parents who are looking for answers. With a psychiatrist, I am currently writing a book on this topic.